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9 Years Later: It’s Still Hard to Believe But Impossible to Forget

This is a repost from September 11, 2007.

It was hard to believe what was unfolding six years ago this morning. In our modern media saturated world, it was presented to us in real-time and then repeated over and over again like a horrific groundhog day. But as difficult as these images are, they are impossible to forget which is probably good because the events of those hours effectively defy words.

The New York maritime community responded to these attacks in heroic fashion which probably surprises no one who reads Sea-Fever. Here is an US Maritime Administration video entitled “Honoring the Living Heroes of the United States Merchant Marine.”

There is a small website called HarborHeroes.org that commemorates the maritime professionals, vessels and companies who responded that fateful day. On it there is a powerful piece by Andrew Greeley from the Chicago Suns Times of September 6, 2002 entitled Media ignored calm amid the 9/11 chaos. This short essay does a remarkable job in capturing the essence of leadership that exists in every individual and society’s ability to face an adaptive challenge of monumental proportions.